ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES

DATE: December 2, 2004

PRESENT: Alan Davis Mark Hardt

Sandie Rietz Paul Bauer

Audrey ConnerRosberg Mary Susan Fishbaugh

Keith Edgerton Randall Gloege

Noreen Lee Connie Landis

Matt Redinger Pat Holman for Lorrie Steerey

Tasneem Khaleel (ex-officio) Amanda Mears (ex-officio)

ABSENT: Lorrie Steerey – excused Bruce Brumley – excused

Janie Park (ex-officio) Carl Hanson (ex-officio)

Joe Michels (ex-officio) George White (ex-officio)

Randy Rhine (ex-officio) John Cech (ex-officio)

Terrie Iverson (ex-officio) Curt Kochner (ex-officio)

GUESTS: Brent Roberts Susan Gilbertz

Randall Pugh Tom Rust

PRESIDING: Keith Edgerton, Chair

Keith Edgerton called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. in the Chancellor’s Conference Room.

The minutes of November 18 were accepted as presented.

I DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS

A. Report of Meeting with President Gamble

Keith Edgerton reported that some Senators met with President Gamble yesterday afternoon. They discussed the flawed administrative evaluation system—a system that has problems at all campuses, not just MSU-Billings.

They also discussed retention issues and talked about putting together a proposal for increasing retention at MSU-Billings. It was noted that what we really need is data—what is really going on with our students—and that data needs to be meaningful.

It was stated that the Senate could form a joint faculty-student task force on retention so faculty could hear from the students directly.

It was cited that any retention-promoting device will cost money, which may cause it to fail just from lack of funding. However, we need some way to reach out to students, especially students at risk for dropping out, and integrate them into the academic culture of the University, because that is what will keep them here.

It was noted that Gamble said Bozeman’s attrition rate is dropping. We should find out what they are doing.

Gamble also stated that Bozeman has decided as a University how big they want to grow. They have set their maximum at 13,000 students. MSU-Billings’ only goal has been continuous growth. Every time we try to meet that goal, we end up missing and beating ourselves up about it. Setting a maximum student goal would give us something more attainable to work toward.

Keith Edgerton asked that the Senators think about a task force for next week: what charges to give it, what results are needed, etc. The task force will be first on the agenda next week.

II. ITEMS – RETURNED BY THE ACADEMIC SENATE

See excerpt of UCC minutes from 11/17/04

Item 25.b COMT 322 Principles of Public Relations. New course.

Item 30.f COMT 322 Performance for the Camera. Change course number to 340.

Item 30.i COMT 350 Performance Theory and Criticism. New course.

Þ Motion by Sandie Rietz, seconded by Noreen Lee to remand Items 25.b, 30.f, and 30.i back to the department for course renumbering.

Þ Motion carried.

III. DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS

B. Continued Academic Foundations Discussion and Acceptance/Rejection of Report

Item 54 Academic Foundations Committee Report

Mark Hardt, Chair of the Academic Foundations Committee, noted that a couple things have been tweaked since last week. The Elective Category is gone, as it seemed to be bothering people and its removal also helps slim down the program. Three credits are then added to the Global Academic Skills Category, as a subcategory called Information Literacy. The other change involves Categories II and III (Natural and Social Sciences) which now require students to take courses from two different rubrics. Also, since this is now December, the timeline for submission needs to be re-evaluated.

Þ Motion by Mark Hardt, seconded by Noreen Lee to specify in the Natural Sciences Category that students must take one biological and one physical science course.

Þ Motion carried.

It was noted that 30 to 40 courses seems too restricted. The Committee had discussed going to back to their first number of 50 to 60 courses, which will make room for more interdisciplinary courses. The Committee’s preference would be to limit this first round of submissions to 30 or 40, and then later expand to include interdisciplinary courses.

It was suggested that the specific number of courses be removed so the Committee can decide as the proposals come in how many to add to each category in Academic Foundations. It was cited that the reason for the number was to give departments a guideline for how many courses to propose, so there will be a minimum of wasted effort.

It was noted that 37 credits is not enough for Academic Foundations. Students should really take 40 to 50 credits in their general education. It was noted that our older students often don’t need all the 37 credits, and many of our young brighter students don’t need them either because they’ve just had them in high school.

There will be further discussion of courses and the deadline at next week’s meeting.

C. Staffing Pattern

It was noted that the staffing pattern was removed from the form for new courses, and that is important information for the Senate.

Þ Motion by Connie Landis, seconded by Randall Gloege to require a staffing pattern for new courses.

Þ Motion carried with 1 opposed.

D. Error in Curricular Changes – Keith Edgerton

Item 7.h HIST 323 Montana History. Change course number to 423.

Dr. Edgerton noted that a Political Science course cross-listed with History has the number 423, so the number of the above course should be changed to 424.

Þ Motion by Pat Holman, seconded by Mark Hardt to change the course number in Item 7.h to 424.

Þ Motion carried.

D. UCC Capstone Number Memo

November 10, 2004

TO: Keith Edgerton, Chair, Academic Senate

FROM: Tim Urbaniak, Chair, UCC

RE: Capstone Course Numbers

With the increased impetus for assessment, more departments are coming forward to the UCC with course proposals for capstone courses. The usual numbers for these courses have been 498 or 499. We applaud the departments who already have created such courses in their curriculum at whatever number they have chosen, but we want to make sure that other departments have a set of reserved numbers, should they desire to use them. Therefore, the UCC has approved a motion that the University reserve the 298/299 (for two-year degrees or certificates) and 498/499 course numbers for these capstone courses across all departments and colleges, with an effective date to be supplied by the Academic Senate.

Currently, we have internships (290/490/590), independent studies (291/491/591), seminars (292/492/592, workshops (293/493/593), etc. We wish to reserve capstone course numbers (298/299 and 498/499) for the undergraduate course numbering system.

It was noted that this would only be for new courses proposed. Existing courses would not have to be changed.

It was suggested that all capstone courses should follow the graduate number, which is 597, i.e., 297 and 497.

The Senate agreed that they need a list of all the capstone courses to figure out the best number to use. This will be discussed next week.

IV. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION

Approved by the UCC November 10

Item 41 Minor in Information Systems. New program.

Item 41.a Minor in Marketing. New program.

Item 41.b Minor in Finance. New program.

Item 41.c Minor in Accounting. New program.

Item 42 ACCT 233 Principles of Accounting I. Change prerequisites.

Item 42.a ACCT 302 Intermediate Accounting II. Change course description.

Item 42.b ACCT 303 Intermediate Accounting III and Theory. Change course description.

Item 42.c ACCT 347 Accounting for Business Decision Making. New course. Online ONLY.

Item 43 BUS 450 Business and Society. New course.

Item 43.a BUS 440 Business and the Environment. Change course description.

Item 44 BSBA Major in Business Administration Finance Option. Modification of an existing program.

Item 44.a FIN 316 Quantitative Methods in Business and Economics. New course.

Item 45 BSBA Major in Business Administration Information Systems Option. Modification of an existing program.

Item 45.b MIS 252 Microcomputer Database. Change course number, title, and description.

Item 45.c MIS 355 Object Oriented Programming. Change course number, description, and prerequisites.

Item 45.d MIS 410 Systems Analysis and Design. Change course number, description, and prerequisites.

Item 46 BSBA Major in Business Administration Marketing Option. Modification of an existing program.

Item 46.a MKT 301 Market Mapping. Delete course.

Item 46.b MKT 443 Applied Marketing Communications. New course.

Item 46.c MKT 445 Retail Management. Delete course.

Item 47 BSBA Major in Business Administration Management Option. Modification of an existing program.

Item 47.a MGMT 321 Principles of Management. Change course description.

Item 47.b MGMT 322 Operations Management. Change prerequisites.

Item 47.c MGMT 353 Organizational Behavior. Change course description.

Item 47.d MGMT 438 Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. Change course description.

Item 47.e MGMT 452 Human Resource Management. Change course description and prerequisites.

Item 47.f MGMT 455 Organization Design and Theory. Delete course.

Item 47.g MGMT 456 International Business. Change course description.

Þ Motion by Connie Landis, seconded by Sandie Rietz to accept Items 41, 41.a, 41.b, 41.c, 42, 42.a, 42.b, 42.c, 43, 43.a, 44, 44.a, 45, 45.b, 45.c, 45.d, 46, 46.a, 46.b, 46.c, 47, 47.a, 47.b, 47.c, 47.d, 47.e, 47.f, and 47.g for information.

Pat Holman stated that the proposed minors have been requested by the College of Arts and Sciences for their students who are required to have a minor. The College of Business developed these minors as series of courses that non-business majors could take and pass successfully without taking the full business core. The other changes are just clean up of the curriculum, and there are no staffing issues.

Þ Motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 5:01 p.m.

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